Tagong and Western Sichuan July 2009 Part 3: Prayer flags

All photos July, 2009 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

It has been my dream for many years now to find and lie underneath large prayer flag formations. Until our recent trip in July I hadn't found any that were big enough and in the good condition that I wanted but this trip was an incredible bonanza!

I'll post more in a few minutes!

Tagong and Western Sichuan July 2009 Part 2

Tagong and Western Sichuan July 2009 Part 1

All photos July, 2009 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

I'm taking advantage of being able to upload new photographs from recent trip we made up to Tagong area of Western Sichuan to view the total solar eclipse. The weather was incredible and the sights and experiences as precious as ever. Every time we go up this area there is something and different to explore. 

Western Sichuan 8: Danba to Tagong - Hongshi

The Red Rocks of Hongshi 红石 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Heading from Danba up to Tagong through Bamei you pass through a tight passage  where the road runs close to the river. All the rocks are red, not from a geological coloring but from a kind of fungus or lichen that grows on the rocks. 

Western Sichuan 6 Danba: Zhonglu and Suopo

Zhonglu and Suopu July 26, 2007, Sichuan All photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

This is a continuation of several postings about Western Sichuan and the Danba area. 

Twenty odd years ago when I first started travelling in Sichuan I became fascinated with the towers of northwestern Sichuan. I first saw them on trips through Maowen and Wenchuan County on the way up to Songpan or Maerkang. I never got close to one, however, as they were usually located on the other side of a river or other obstacle. Later in the mid-90s I encountered them again, with my husband, in the Kongpo area of Eastern Tibet TAR and could walk and climb inside a few. On this trip to Danba in 2007 we saw them in many places, some villages had only one or two, others like Suopo (last image above) several. In this area most are four-sided but there are a few rare ones that are eight-sided. All in all they total around 100 in the Danba area. According to historical research most were probably built before the 16th century, with many of the original towers being destroyed in the wars of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. There is much speculation as to what the original purpose of the towers actually was. A general conclusion is that they were used as both forts and defense towers, storehouses, beacons and landmarks (just like some Chinese pagodas) and also as status symbols (local tradition say they were sometimes built to commemorate the birth of a son).  

Some of the towers we visited had the first entrance window placed so high off the ground (several meters) that they could impossibly have been used as a storage area, it was just too impractical. This kind was maybe used as a place to escape to in times of trouble with a ladder up to the entrance that could be withdrawn into the interior of the tower when beseiged. Most of the towers in the area look locked up, surely both for protection of the tower and also for safety from accidents. 

Anyone wishing to know more about the towers can read Frederique Darragon’s Secret Towers of the Himalayas, which can be bought at the Foreign Language Bookstore in Chengdu. ISBN: 7-80709-043-X/K.2 Price 160 yuan. Darragon heads a drive to protect the towers under the Unesco World Heritage program.

Note: All of the pictures above are of the village of Zhonglu, located in a parallel valley to Jiaju. Zhonglu is famous for its Sichuan pepper (huajiao) which was being harvested when we visited. What a wonderful smell there was in the air around us! You can read more about my infatuation with huajiao on my posting from Feb 05, 2008: Red chilis and Sichuan Pepper: A match made in Heaven or Hell? The last image is from the village of Suopo. Both Zhonglu and Suopo have several towers but Suopo has a very old (700-800 yr old) star-shaped tower.

Western Sichuan 4 Danba: Tibetan vernacular architecture of the Gyarong Area

All photos Jiaju, July 2007 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

This is a continuation of several postings about Western Sichuan and the Danba area.

The houses of the Jiaju area are particularly interesting and beautiful with coloured stripes that remind me of Sakya in Southern Tibet. But whereas Sakya has slate grey, painted walls the houses of Danba are striped and the towers have horns capped with prayer flags. The colouring has special meaning: symbolizing the sky, moon, sun, earth and stars and it is believed to bring luck and protection to the house and its dwellers. Doors can also be elaborate affairs, brightly painted with religious iconography and sometimes topped with a yak skull and garuda bird like the picture above. Most houses are quite massive, built of wood and stone with several stories and flat roofs used to dry corn, chilis and grain, and for the family to soak up sun in the daytime. Individual logs serve as ladders with small steps cut out in a single row up the tree trunk. Windows are multi-paned and made of latticed wood, painted in distinct Tibetan fashion with a black trapezoid border around. The interior of the dininghall/meetinghall where we ate our meals was extremely elaborate with numerous built-in painted cabinets and niches, small low-standing tables and belt-in benches and beds around the edges. Every surface was painted in a kaleidescope of brilliant colours, making every meal a bit of a psychedelic affair!

Western Sichuan 3 Danba: Travel routes and general info

All photos July 2007 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Click on images to enlarge!

This is a continuation of several postings about Western Sichuan and the Danba area. 

Travel routes to get to Danba:
We took the Chengdu - Dujiangyan - Wolong - Siguniangshan - Xiaojin - Danba route, about 390 km, one day of hard travel. Public transportation from Chengdu Chadianzi Bus Station or hired vehicle.

Danba can also be reached the "other way around" via Kangding, ca 520 km, takes two days with recommended overnight in Kangding to adjust to altitude. Public buses leave from Xinnanmen Bus Station or from in front of Kangding Hotel on Wuhou Hengjie everyday. You will have to change buses in Kangding: Chengdu - Ya'an - Kangding - Xinduqiao - Tagong - Bamei - Danba

My suggestion is to make a loop from Chengdu via Wolong to Danba through Hongshi/Bamei and Balangshan to Tagong and then down through Kangding, visiting villages and staying at homestays or hostels along the way and never needing to backtrack.

Accomodation:

Very easy to get in numerous homestays or with Tibetan or Qiang families in the more remote villages. Towns like Danba, Kangding, Tagong have numerous hotels, small guesthouses and hostels, varying in quality and price. The entire Danba - Kangding - Tagong area is very affordable. If you'd like to stay at Baosheng's Homestay in Jiaju contact him at this number (Chinese/Gyarong Tibetan speakers only): +86-13684498350.

Climate and time of year to travel:

When the sun shines the whole world smiles! Don't expect the sun to shine every day but the Danba area exists in a kind of subtropical microclimate, blessed with huge amounts of sunlight all year round, thus making it a place you can visit any time of the year. What must be taken into account though is the weather and road conditions getting to and from Danba. It is important that you check this out before leaving and understand that you will be climbing over passes 4500 meters in height, with very changeable weather conditions. Otherwise one of the most wonderful things about Danba is that you are in a totally Tibetan world but without the problems of high altitude. Danba itself is only around 1700 meters and is an excellent place to acclaimatize for higher destinations. 

Western Sichuan 2 Danba: Homestay in "Jiaju, the most beautiful village in China"

All photos July 2007 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

This is a continuation of several postings about Western Sichuan and the Danba area. 

From the town of Danba to the village of Jiaju is a short distance by car (about 7 km). We had called ahead to the brother of our homestay owner Baosheng and arranged for him to come and pick us up in Danba Town. Already in Danba the scenery is spectacular but Danba itself is no more than a standard Chinese town of concrete buildings and bustle, albeit surrounded by stupendously high mountains capped with blue skies. 

Coming over the ridge above the village of Jiaju the view was breathtaking. In 2005 Chinese National Geographic Magazine voted this the "Most beautiful village in China", a statement that is now well-used in local tourism advertising. Of all the Danba villages, each with their own special charm, Jiaju stands out as probably the most picturesque, but also most clued up to what tourism likes and wants. For the moment this is not a negative thing.

Stone houses with earth-toned stripes dotted the green mountainside. Far below the Da Jinshan River raged and across its white waters more villages crept up the mountainside. However did people get to them? There seemed to be no way to approach them but we later learned that some were reached by coming over the mountain top and not from below. Surely it would be a long time before people living in those villages achieved the prosperity we were to witness in Jiaju which has opened itself to tourism. The Da Jinshan River is actually the Dadu River but it doesn't bear this name until it flows past Danba. The Dadu is a tributary of the mighty Yangtse and is one of the four great rivers of Sichuan. Here and there we could see tall, stone fortification towers which we were to explore the next day. High stalks of corn and well-tended vegetable plots were growing beside every house, each seemingly guarded by perking little dogs. Unattended mills powered by waterwheels from streams rushing down the mountainsides ground flour in small wooden huts. Prayer wheels were also constructed in this fashion, working away at better karma whilst the owner was busy somewhere else. Small paths paved with marble flagstones connected the houses and fields and we spent many an hour avoiding the watch dogs and poking about the area.

Our host Baosheng met us down a winding road where he introduced us to his very pleasant little homestay, double rooms with adjoining simple shower and toilet, colourful Tibetan beds, and 24-hr hot water powered by solar panels stored on the roof. Baosheng and his family took care of us for the two nights and two and one half days we spent there, feeding us mountains of food (all meals included in homestay price) and butter tea.  Our section of the house was fronted by a little courtyard shaded by apple trees. Other rooms were to be had in the big main house where the extended family lived.

Note: all visitors to Jiaju must pay an entrance fee to the village to get in, even if you're staying overnight. The money goes to pay for the paved road that runs from Danba to Jiaju. In the near future when the road is paid off the ticket proceeds will be shared collectively by the village.

Western Sichuan 1: The road to Danba

All photos©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

This is a continuation of my series of postings on Western Sichuan (see Feb 4, 2009)

During the summer of 2007 (late July) we made a week long trip to Tagong via Danba, visiting the incredibly beautiful Qiang and Tibetan villages in the area before heading up over onto the Tibetan Plateau to Tagong via Hongshi (Red Stones). Large quantities of rain had recently fallen on the area leading up to Danba and both roads and bridges had washed away or been damaged by falling rocks. We rented a van in Chengdu and headed NW via Dujiangyan and Wolong and onward through the tight, deeply shaded, slightly ominous, misty valleys that make up the border area between the Chinese world and the Tibetan in western Sichuan. 

This is panda, golden monkey, red panda and in the not so distant past tiger country. Lush bamboo forests and dense evergreens. The road skirts roaring rivers and small roadside habitations, hardly large enough to be called villages, many of them existing solely to maintain the road or serve food to passersby. At this time of year corn was drying from the eaves and large, meaty fuschia-coloured dahlias and brilliant nasturtiums were in profusion, giving me a hint of the maybe merry nature of the people who spent their lives here. I often marvel at the resilience of those who can exist all their days in dark, wet valleys, waiting for a ray of sunlight to pierce the gloom and lighten their hearts (or dry the wash hanging everywhere). If this were Scandinavian my mind would turn to tales of loneliness, depression and suicide, and maybe that same sad story is true here too.

The road over the Balangshan was horrendously bumpy, full of potholes and slithery, gooey mud. We made it over the pass (4523 m) at sunset just in time to catch the last rays of daylight illuminate the Four Sisters Mountain (Siguniangshan, 6250 m) before it was sucked into the night. Beneath us we could see the valley of Rilongguan. After about 14 hours of almost straight driving we pulled into the town of Danba: five adults (including the driver) and two children tumbled out with sore joints and headaches. We had hoped to make it all the way to Jiaju but the driver was exhausted, it was pitch black outside and simply too dangerous to continue. A clean, little guesthouse near the big bridge swallowed us up for the night, all of us falling asleep to the sounds of the roaring river below. The next day we awoke to glorious sunshine and entered the magical world of Danba, a microcosm of sun, flowers, stone houses, high skies and singing villages.